


I Hate Space So Much, Jim

by sirladyknight



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Drunkenness, F/M, Fear of Transporters, Female Leonard McCoy, Fluffy Ending, Love/Hate, spones - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 01:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3591333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirladyknight/pseuds/sirladyknight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lenore should have known better than to drink before boarding a spaceship. At least something good comes out of it though.</p><p>(Or Lenore gets drunk and meets Spock ((kind of)) and starts a fued that lasts forever until it doesn't. Also, Jim is a great friend but kind of a prick.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Hate Space So Much, Jim

Lenore remembered the first time she had boarded the Enterprise, but probably not as well as she should have.

To be honest, everyone remembered the first time Lenore boarded the Enterprise, whether it was by being there or, mostly, through word of mouth. She had been drinking heavily the day before and the day of, bitterly regretting signing onto Starfleet in the first place as she came to terms with the fact she wouldn’t see her little girl for five damn years. It didn’t matter her ex-husband had custody and that she rarely got to see her daughter anyways, it was the _space_ that was going to be between them that had sent her into a boozed up nosedive.

Ah, yes, space, the final frontier Jim had told her. She’d rather it remain unexplored as long as she stayed in one solid piece, especially since teleportation devices made her uneasy at the best of times. The majority of the crew had already boarded by the time she managed to drag herself to the launch bay where Jim waited, grinning and grimacing all at once.

“You look, uh, a little worse for the wear there, Bones. “ He was being polite, she looked like someone had dragged her through the entire city’s gutters and then washed her off with bourbon.

“Yeah, get used to it,” she growled for lack of better things to say. She was still pretty buzzed and everything looked like it was already in antigravity.

Jim smiled like sunshine, looking at his ship in a sort of awed wonder. Lenore stared at it like it was going to burst into flames and come crashing down on them. She turned to her friend, sighing miserably. “Alright, there’ll be enough time to stare at your precious ship later, let’s get this over with. Where’s that transporter vessel?”

His eyebrows twitched for a moment and he seemed to be trying to keep his expression pleasant. “Uh, that left a few minutes ago while you were… occupied in the restroom.”

She ignored the jab about her puking her guts up, trying to puzzle out what he was getting at through an alcohol-soaked brain. Her eyebrows furrowed as she spoke, “Well, then how the hell are we getting up there?”

He slowly turned and she followed his gaze to a group of transport pads nearby that was used mainly for cargo. She looked back at him in disbelief.

“Jim, no.”

Shrugging, he shot her a smug smile, chiding, “Well, if someone didn’t decide to drink half the planet’s alcohol supply, we would have gotten aboard much earlier.”

“Jim, _no_.”

He was already in place. “Get on the pad, Bones. That’s an order.”

She was frozen yet her stomach was about fifty miles away and speeding back towards her at a nauseating speed. Her stare was pleading as she took one step forward and then another, trying fight the evitable. “Maybe we can call back another carrier.”

His put-upon sigh was answer enough but he said anyways, “I am Captain of this ship and I am going to be the last one on it if you don’t hurry up. Now, move it.”

Biting back a whimper, she finally reached the pad and stepped up. He had waited for her, like a true friend, even when he was probably dying to get aboard his ship, his first ship. Feeling guilty and grateful, she inhaled deeply. She could do this, she wasn’t some fresh faced cadet and she certainly had confronted worse than this. Pulling back her shoulders, she nodded to Jim. “Ready when you are, Captain.”

His smile almost made her feel better. Almost, until he pulled out his communicator and ordered, “Two to beam up, Scotty.”

“Hope you don’t mind if I throw up on you,” she said, managing a weak, pained but genuine smile back.

“You won’t,” he replied, sounding confident.

They shimmered and she heard that strange noise that always emitted whenever the transporter operated. Soon, they were looking at Scotty alongside First Officer Spock and Lieutenant Uhura.

Of course, she didn’t see much else before she was running to the trash bin next to Scotty and tossing up whatever was left in her stomach. At that point, humiliation wasn’t even close enough a word for what she felt. Then a second wave hit her and she completely lost any shame.

“I fucking hate you, Jim,” she groaned into the can, kneeling and gripping the sides for dear life.

Her Captain, of course, burst into laughter until he had to place his hands on his knees to keep himself upright. “I can’t believe,” he tried to say between gasps, “you actually threw up, oh-” and he dissolved back into wordless laughter, tears streaming down his face, or so Scotty told her later over a drink, ironically enough.

She scowled, wiped her mouth, picked up the bin, and walked out. She also might have flipped everyone the bird as she left but her memory was foggy so she wasn’t sure. She did think she saw Spock raise an eyebrow though.

That also happened to be the first time she had met Spock, although she didn’t speak to him until the next day. He politely asked her if she was feeling rested and she actually kind of liked him for a moment, enough to be embarrassed again about what happened. That is, until he began to lecture her on humans and their irrational fondness of alcohol, which she would have agreed with if he hadn’t been so damn condescending while he said it.

Then she turned her all of her 6’, 155 pounds of Southern fury on him and not much has changed since. However, despite all of their arguing, he had never brought up her ‘incident’ once after the first time he mentioned it. She almost thought that perhaps he had forgotten about it, what with all of his meditation and clearing of the mind nonsense. It couldn't of been because he was sorry or anything like that.  

It wasn’t until he had been hit with a stray phaser-beam and he was sent to Med-bay that he slipped up, revealing that, yes, he did have some human in him.

She was leaning over him, scanning his charred leg for a damage report. The night before she had been drinking with Scotty again and the smell of cooked flesh was churning up her stomach something awful. She was probably a little green around the gills.

“Careful, doctor,” Spock seemingly couldn’t resist throwing a jab, even in his half-delirious state. “We would not want you to repeat your boarding incident.”

Her open mouthed and affronted look was lost on him as he leaned back and closed his eyes.

“So, you do have a sense of humor,” she snarked back. “Glad to know you’re flesh and blood, Spock.”

He was silent and she returned to her work, fighting hard against a sudden ridiculous urge to smile. Out of all their adventures, he chooses to make a joke now, about her and she was practically giggling like a school girl.

She muttered under breath, to him or herself she didn’t know, “You’re a damn fool.”

Perhaps it was the lighting, or the delirium, but she swore his lips twitched upwards.

She almost felt like she could love him then, but she hastily shook that nonsense off and got back to buinsess scanning his possibly fractured limb. Lenore McCoy did not love, not anymore, or at least that's what she fought to tell herself.

If he was more courteous towards her afterwards and if she had taken to blushing in his presence, well, that didn't mean a damn thing.


End file.
